Practices and Appropriations of Animal Magnetism by the Lavater Brothers (ca. 1785): Between Medicine and Religion

In 1785, during a trip to western Switzerland, the Zurich minister Johann Caspar Lavater became interested in animal magnetism, a medical theory that was popular at the time, and in particular was interested in its variant of magnetic somnambulism (hypnosis). He learned to apply the principles of animal magnetism in Geneva under instruction by the doctor Pierre Butini, and successfully used this method subsequently to treat his own wife Anna, who was suffering from ailments that the doctors were unable to cure. As a long-time believer in the survival of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, Lavater saw animal magnetism as confirmation of his beliefs and compared magnetic treatments to the apostolic laying on of hands. This idea also influenced his magnetisation technique, in which he incorporated religious gestures. His practice was also inseparable from that of his brother, the physician Diethelm Lavater, who hoped with this new remedy to cure diseases that were hitherto deemed incurable. Together, the Lavater brothers engaged in experiments that explored both medical and religious questions. Their shared practice of animal magnetism highlights the convergence and collaboration between medicine and religion, as well as the influence of religious beliefs on medical practices.